AA urges NGOs to deliver relief aid through its networks

By DMG 19 Sep 2022

DMG Newsroom

19 September 2022, Sittwe

The United League of Arakan (ULA) will assist in the relief aid deliveries of local and international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to internally displaced people (IDPs), according to the spokesman of the Arakan Army (AA), the armed wing of the ULA.

The military regime on September 16 ordered local and international NGOs operating in six townships of Arakan State including Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Minbya, Mrauk-U and Myebon to halt their operations, as access to those areas was being temporarily blocked due to escalating clashes with the AA.

Aid agencies can deliver their relief supplies through the ULA to areas where the regime has blocked access, the AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha said during a press conference on Monday. The AA, upon request, would also help deliver relief supplies to remote locations and if aid agencies have other difficulties to deliver by themselves, he added.

“Due to the actions of the regime, refugee camps have run out of clothes and medicines, and they urgently need humanitarian aid. So, I would like to urge NGOs, INGOs, civil society organisations and individuals to come and make donations [through] us,” he told the press briefing.

The blockade on humanitarian operations has resulted in shortages of food and other vital items in the affected townships.

More than 900 IDPs taking shelter at Zedi Pyin Village in Rathedaung Township are facing food shortages, said Ko Aung Min Soe from a Zedi Pyin charity.

“Previous supplies from donors will have completely run out after the eating today. We don’t know what to do tomorrow,” he said.

A series of fresh clashes have taken place in multiple townships across Arakan State including Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U, as well as in Chin State’s Paletwa Township, over the past few weeks.

Nearly 10,000 civilians have been displaced by the growing hostilities, according to data from humanitarian groups.